


jester wakes up

by halforcpaladin



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, just some warm thoughts on a cold night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 10:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17343470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halforcpaladin/pseuds/halforcpaladin
Summary: Jester has a bad dream and thinks about her friend, Beauregard.





	jester wakes up

Jester woke up in the middle of the night to a silent room, suddenly taken away from a dream, a bad one, a locked-up and left alone kind of dream. The room felt haunted in the way places often do when you see them without movement, life, or light. The new moon turned a cold shoulder on the world, offering no blue glow through the window to soften the blow of a sudden awakening. Jester took a deep breath. She was frozen for a moment, aware that emotions she had felt in a bad dream were still gripping her, as out of place as they might be in this safe, quiet, cold room.

Once the fear dissipated, Jester pulled her blanket closer and tried not to be alarmed by the noise it made, a sudden disruption of the complete silence that had filled the room. She tried to shut her eyes, curl her body into a fetal position, willed the room to give her some heat so she could fall back asleep.

Frustrated, she opened her eyes and looked across the room. She could make out the lumpy shape of Beau, and if she was completely still, she could hear her friend’s steady breath.

The images brought to her with the dream of her captivity were replaced with her memories of Beau on the Ball Eater: soaking wet, hair plastered to her face, shouting across the wind. “I think that’s beautiful.”

Jester’s breath felt shallow, like it couldn’t get all the way into her lungs before she let it out again.

Beau, with her brown skin, blue eyes, tough exterior; Beau, who seemed so thoughtless and cold when they first met. Who had once said to her, “My intention was never to abandon anybody… especially not you.”

Jester bit her bottom lip, scrunching up her face before finally exhaling. She wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, pulling the thin, scratchy material close to her chest, and got out of bed. She stood on her tiptoes, afraid that the cold floor would steal her body heat.

When she got closer, she saw that Beau wasn’t really sleeping peacefully, either. She had the blanket tightly grasped in her hands and her legs tucked up by her chest, and her features were scrunched up in discomfort. Jester reached out and tapped Beau on the shoulder. Her friend didn’t open her eyes, but mumbled something to herself and pressed her face further into her pillow.

“Beau?” Jester asked in a whisper. Outside, something with wings seemed to take off from a perch by their window.

Beau still didn’t open her eyes, but removed her face from the pillow. “Yeah?” She said, in a voice so quiet Jester could barely hear it.

“Um, it’s really cold… could I get in bed with you?”

Beau turned over to face the middle of the room and her eyes finally opened just a little, still heavily laden with sleep. In the darkness, the sharp edges of Beau’s face were fuzzy, softened, sort of blending in with the shades of grey around her. “Of course, Jes.” She lifted her blanket up, inviting Jester to get underneath it.

Jester smiled, feeling that her nightmare seemed very distant now, and she took her blanket off to drape it over Beau and climbed into bed. Despite appearances, Beau was warm and her body heat felt familiar, like the heat given off from the last embers of a dying fire. Jester thought of decayed pieces of lumber flashing red and orange as flame claimed the last bit of intact wood to feed itself.

She found herself face to face with Beau, their noses nearly touching. Her friend looked like sleep was about to catch up with her, an easy race to win as Beau had barely awakened. Jester whispered, conscious of how close her lips were to Beau’s, “Beau?”

“Mmm.”

“I really like you, Beau.” The words, which felt so heavy, dissipated into the room, floating around her ears, dancing out the window.

“I like you, too, Jes.” Beau wrapped her arm around Jester and pulled her closer, bringing the blanket with her to wrap over Jester’s back.

Jester wondered how much Beau would remember when they woke up. She slipped her arm under Beau’s and clutched the back of Beau’s shirt and thought it didn’t really matter, because Jester would remember it for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm taking fic requests on tumblr @ halforcpaladin :)


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